Local officials reviewing school security measures and counseling after Connecticut school shooting

Sunday

Dec 23, 2012 at 2:00 PM

By David Frownfelder and Dan CherryDaily Telegram Staff Writers

The shooting spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut has local school officials looking into security procedures and counseling plans to protect and help students.

Tecumseh Public Schools has been proactive with respect to school security, said Superintendent Mike McAran. At Monday’s Tecumseh Board of Education meeting, McAran said Tecumseh had instituted a number of security measures as far back as 1997, before the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado. It is a plan that has been updated and modified several times in the 15 years since its implementation.

“(Monday, TPS school) administrators met with the local police department to go over emergency plans in all of our buildings,” McAran said. “We take them very seriously. We have to make reports every year, not just to the police departments, but also federal and state officials.”

In each school year, he said, the district carries out a specific number of emergency drills. They include six fire drills, two tornado drills and two crisis or lockdown situations.

Procedures are periodically revised to reflect potential threats and situations. For instance, McAran said, in the event of a lockdown, no one is allowed to leave a building until all are accounted for and the situation is under control.

Emergency contact numbers and procedures are compiled in notebooks in each classroom. In addition, all teachers, administrators and other personnel are given detailed training. The first line of defense, though, remains the building secretaries. Visitors are required to fill out a sign-in sheet in the office.

“We are re-emphasizing that our personnel will ask everyone to identify themselves,” McAran said. “We are going to continue not allowing people into the buildings and down the halls even if they are parents. You don’t know who could be a threat.”

Tecumseh Middle School Principal Rick Hilderley said the school district is taking the events from Connecticut to heart.

“I’m sure things will come from this latest incident that will modify our approach. School staffs everywhere are prepared,” he said. “We will use this as a teaching moment with our staff here.”

Tecumseh is not the only district with such measures. Every district has similar procedures in place, McAran said.

In Clinton, Superintendent David Pray talked to his board Monday about training and security measures in the district’s school buildings. Pray said the training has paid off, with students getting involved and standing up for each other during student conflicts.

He also pointed out the many intruder drills the district performs, like other districts do. Clinton school personnel are in contact with both the village of Clinton offices and the village police department.

Addison Community Schools recently upgraded its security network as part of a nearly $20 million bond project. Visitors to Addison Elementary School must be buzzed in through the exterior doors, and visitors to the middle and high school cannot access the student areas without going through the main office.

“Teachers are aware of the ever-present dangers, and we are always reviewing and implementing our safety and security policies,” Superintendent Steve Guerra said. “We constantly coordinate with staff and administration, and have scheduled lockdown and evacuation practices and unscheduled practices as well.”

Mike Osborne, superintendent of both Hudson and Morenci school districts, said the districts communicate with families and staff to remind them of the security policies in place.

Because of the Connecticut shootings, Osborne said, staff meetings were held Monday to reaffirm those practices, and the administrative team and counselors are prepared in case students or staff want to talk about the tragedy.

“We take questions and if there are areas of security we need to look at, we ask for feedback,” Osborne said. “We are also monitoring students’ needs in the event some of them seek counseling or guidance. So far, we’ve seen nothing unusual.”

The tragedy was also discussed Monday among staff and administration at Onsted Community Schools.

“Our principals communicate on how to address concerns, especially at the elementary level,” Superintendent Mark Haag said. “Every school will review and re-evaluate its procedures and processes, and we may consider additional lockdown and evacuation drills.”

Adrian Superintendent Chris Timmis said the district has accelerated the process of installing a magnet-based system that makes it easier for teachers to quickly lock classroom doors in an emergency. The district has also been experimenting at some buildings with keeping doors locked at all times, with a staff member letting people in, and has increased staff presence in hallways and open areas by shuffling some schedules and reminding staff to be vigilant.

The district has also been reviewing its security procedures with the help of the Adrian Police Department, Timmis said.

Through the Southern Michigan Criminal Justice Training Consortium, Lenawee County law enforcement has conducted training on various scenarios involving school buildings. In 2010, the training focused on a shooter or shooters in a school building, using Clinton Middle School as the training site.

The consortium is a voluntary association consisting of law enforcement agencies in Lenawee and Jackson counties. The consortium provides joint training in police methods and investigation techniques.

The departments began the joint training in 1999 after Columbine. Because every local police department participates, every department receives the same training and will know how to react.

Mary Tommelein was a counselor for many years with the Tecumseh schools. She is now a counselor at the Lenawee Intermediate School District Tech Center and assists other county school districts.

She said it is a sad day that such extreme security precautions need to be taken in schools to protect children. But she agreed with Hilderley that teachers will use the tragedy to step up their procedures and preparations.

“Individual teachers will handle this in different ways. The EMS teacher here at the Center will use it as a teaching moment,” Tommelein said.

Some of the services available include helping students and parents deal with tragedy both on a large scale and in smaller instances. Schools have traditionally brought in grief counselors to meet with students in such cases as the death of a classmate or school employee, but they have limited resources, she said.

“Unfortunately, we have very few elementary counselors available here in the county,” Tommelein said. “Hospice has a counselor who actually goes into schools.”

Geoff Koglin, director of bereavement services for Hospice of Lenawee, said Hospice has several different resources with which it helps.

“Our main counselor is Lee Ann Straub. She is able to help in two main areas: one, to provide resources for counselors, and, two, she works — with parents’ permission — to go into schools and work directly with students,” Koglin said.

Hospice also has support personnel to work with parents and has five full-time staff working with Hospice families.

“We try to work with parents first,” he said. “They are the ones children usually trust the most.”